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Aside of my father having a PPL, and my grandfather being in the RAF, a lot of my travelling and flying inspiration comes from a cousin. He would fly anywhere in the world to see and fly on a rare aircraft, and I recently came across this old newspaper clipping from the 70s which reported it:



The most amazing thing which strikes me is that they spent two YEARS planning each big trip - because back then it took so much longer to receive timetables by post, and visa permissions could take months - not that has changed much, but nowadays you can find the timetable for almost any airline in the world in two MINUTES. At every family gathering we always end up talking about aircraft, trains, and travelling, but by the end of each evening I'm normally too bladdered to remember it


Dan

When I was a little kid, my grandfather had these two airliner books in his study. Every time I went to their house I read them (well, looked at the pictures and diagrams) again and again, I really think that was the start.

My grandfather:



Me sitting in the back seat of a Super Cub belonging to a friend of the family:

I've always, at least as far back as I can remember, have had a basic interest in flying. Then, the summer before my 6th grade year on a trip to West Virginia, curiosity over the various aspects of flight (ie lift, navigation, aircraft recogntion, etc) took hold. Now, airports are one of the very few places I don't feel out of place.

Definitely my Father, who is a huge aviation nut and a very good aviation photographer and took me to dozens of airshows as a young child. He was insistent that my Sister and I should fly as soon as possible, so that we would have no fear of flying that would curtail his travelling, so we both flew as small babies and were seasoned flyers by the time we got to school. The rest of my family have no clue what they're flying on - my Sister still insists she flew a 737 LHR-SIN-SYD

When China was starting to open up to tourists he would fly over there and spend a few weeks travelling around on all sorts of Russian metal. He also flew extensively for work in the 60s and 70s, so he has an interesting and varied log of types flown that puts pretty much anybody in the shade - when we were assembling a list a couple of years ago, we found a single week where he flew BAC1-11, 707, CV-880 and Bristol Britannia! Unfortunately, my Father was never able to get a PPL as his job didn't allow it and he would struggle with the medical now. My Father is also the photographer of the image that appeared on the front of most of Europe's newspapers following the Breguet Atlantique crash at Farnborough in 1968.

JLAmber wrote: my Sister still insists she flew a 737 LHR-SIN-SYD

Are you sure it wasn't another mad flyGlobespan route/aircraft combo ?



As for me I don't know where I got it from. My family background is very much related to the sea and ships and boats rather than the air.

But i do know I was fascinated by places and people around the world at an early stage. Mum and Dad still insist the first picture book i used to spend hours looking at was an atlas of the world. Geography of the world always fascinated me growing up, particularly at school. I was always fascinated in cars and boats and things as a kid so I guess aircraft was a natural part of that - particularly as they went to all those places around the world that I as interested in.

And luckily for me that developed from an interest into a career where i get to fly on the planes and learn all about those countries that fascinated me as a kid

I can't say for sure - but I guess it was my first visit to IAD. It was around 1966 or 67, and our whole family drove up from Richmond to pick up my Dad's brother who was returning from a tour in Vietnam. I was only 6 or 7, and really remember being amazed at all the planes. After that, anytime anyone was going to any airport, I begged to tag along - been doing it ever since.

Not really sure either. My grandfather was a 747 captain for Pan Am for years, but by the time I really got interested, PA had folded, he had gone to United, then retired.

My father used to take alot of business trips on DL 737-200s and 727s when I was growing up...maybe going to the airport so much is where I picked it up...

I don't get it from family, thats for sure! No-one in my family has so much as been in a frequent-flyer club, let alone worked in aviation. I only flew one round trip before the age of 10; and even between 10 and 16 I flew less than once a year.

It was simply one day, aged 10, on a Laker Airways DC-10, lining up on runway 24 at MAN, enjoying the rush of takeoff and knowing that was what I wanted to do!

When I was 9 I moved to Puerto Rico. We flew out of Detroit on a DC-9 to Atlanta and from there to PR on a DC-10. After that I was hooked. Was also nice that we lived on the approach to the Isla Verde International Airport later renamed Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport so I got to see everything from 747s to Phantoms fly over.